Neighbors helping neighbors

By ANIESA HOLMES Daily News Staff

Published: Sunday, December 30, 2012 at 03:54 PM.

Luna said the response to the collection drive was overwhelming. Sam’s Club Store Manager Steven Searcy waived required membership to create an at-cost price list for residents and local businesses to purchase humanitarian disaster relief items. The City of
Jacksonville
set up designated drop off points at the
Jacksonville
Commons
Recreation
Center
, City Hall and Fire Station 3. Churches also contributed in big ways, including
Sandy
Run
Missionary
Baptist
Church
’s contribution of eight van loads of clothing for residents. Camp Lejeune Marines spent Veteran’s Day weekend helping the Grand Knight Ed Blizzard and the Knights of Columbus group to load collected items onto the trailer.

“There were so many good stories that came from all of this,” Luna said. “It seemed like the people who had the least to give were the ones who gave so much. Some of those Marines had just come home from deployment and could’ve spent their weekend anywhere else.”

With thousands of donations collected in several weeks, the trailer still lacked a driver who was available to transport the items to
New Jersey
and
New York
. Retired Sergeant Major E.L.B. Mayfield introduced Luna to truck driver Nels Larson, who worked at Pie Sano Restaurant near his martial arts studio. Larson was currently searching for truck driving employment, but felt that this mission was meant just for him. Luna and Larson also discovered that their fathers were best friends when they served together in the Marine Corps decades ago.

“I don’t think we could’ve found anyone better suited to take that truck up there,” Luna said. “Everyone was anxious to get those items there and it couldn’t have happened in a better way. It was almost like a divine intervention.”

The next day, Larson was headed on a 600-mile journey to deliver the trailer load of items to be distributed at the Roxbury Fire Department in Breezy Point, N.Y. and at New Hope Baptist Church in Elizabeth, N.J. Larson said residents were pleased to learn that members of Onslow County were ready and willing to send aid water, clothing, food and school supplies for children.

“The people there were so surprised that all of that stuff came from
North Carolina
,” Larson said. “They were happy to have it.”

Larson also saw the significance of how disaster brought people together in Breezy Point, including dozens of families were displaced after a massive fire destroyed 117 homes in the town.

When a series of storms brought devastation to residents of New York and New Jersey last month, Jacksonville and OnslowCounty residents upheld their creed as a caring community with 60,000 pounds of donated goods.

Local businessman Chris Luna, a member of Knights of Columbus No. 3574 from Infant of Prague Catholic Church, initiated a Hurricane Sandy relief collection drive that prompted residents, churches, civic groups, businesses to contribute in a variety of ways. He named the effort “Neighbors helping Neighbors.”

“I was inspired by the late Richard Ray when he took a U-Haul truck full of items to Florida with his own money after Hurricane Andrew hit,” Luna said. “His widow Debbie and her sons were overwhelmed to help contribute to this drive.”

Luna began soliciting bulk items from large retail stores within the county and asked residents to donate until a large portion of items was collected. Collection points also were set up around Jacksonville for items to be taken to New York and New Jersey.

Luna was encouraged to approach Elijah Morton of Morton Trucking Company to donate the use of a trailer to collect items. Morton agreed and also added eight new tires for the truck’s safe travel to distribute the items.

“He asked me why I was doing this and I said I felt that I needed to do something to help these people out,” Luna said.

Luna said the response to the collection drive was overwhelming. Sam’s Club Store Manager Steven Searcy waived required membership to create an at-cost price list for residents and local businesses to purchase humanitarian disaster relief items. The City of Jacksonville set up designated drop off points at the JacksonvilleCommonsRecreationCenter, City Hall and Fire Station 3. Churches also contributed in big ways, including SandyRunMissionaryBaptistChurch’s contribution of eight van loads of clothing for residents. Camp Lejeune Marines spent Veteran’s Day weekend helping the Grand Knight Ed Blizzard and the Knights of Columbus group to load collected items onto the trailer.

“There were so many good stories that came from all of this,” Luna said. “It seemed like the people who had the least to give were the ones who gave so much. Some of those Marines had just come home from deployment and could’ve spent their weekend anywhere else.”

With thousands of donations collected in several weeks, the trailer still lacked a driver who was available to transport the items to New Jersey and New York. Retired Sergeant Major E.L.B. Mayfield introduced Luna to truck driver Nels Larson, who worked at Pie Sano Restaurant near his martial arts studio. Larson was currently searching for truck driving employment, but felt that this mission was meant just for him. Luna and Larson also discovered that their fathers were best friends when they served together in the Marine Corps decades ago.

“I don’t think we could’ve found anyone better suited to take that truck up there,” Luna said. “Everyone was anxious to get those items there and it couldn’t have happened in a better way. It was almost like a divine intervention.”

The next day, Larson was headed on a 600-mile journey to deliver the trailer load of items to be distributed at the Roxbury Fire Department in Breezy Point, N.Y. and at New Hope Baptist Church in Elizabeth, N.J. Larson said residents were pleased to learn that members of Onslow County were ready and willing to send aid water, clothing, food and school supplies for children.

“The people there were so surprised that all of that stuff came from North Carolina,” Larson said. “They were happy to have it.”

Larson also saw the significance of how disaster brought people together in Breezy Point, including dozens of families were displaced after a massive fire destroyed 117 homes in the town.

“Everyone needed help, but especially the families of those 117 homes that burned down because they had nothing left but ashes,” Larson said. “Other than some minor injuries and scratches, none of the residents in those homes were hurt.”

In three days, Larson delivered the trailer of items for needy residents and headed back to North Carolina. Luna said that the small and large efforts of local residents helped to bring neighbors in different states together in the midst of hard times.

“Whether you gave a whole pile of bottled water or just one canned good, if you brought something it was thought behind it and it says a lot about our community,” Luna said. “I couldn’t have done any of this by myself. This was truly a community effort.”